Lure of financial power, prestige behind tussle for mayor's post

 Besides the prestige of becoming the First Citizen of Bengaluru, it is the enormous financial discretionary power that drives corporators to join the race to become mayor.

With a hung electoral college for the mayoral polls, the ongoing tussle among political parties to control the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has brought into focus the power enjoyed by the ruling party, especially the mayor, the deputy mayor and the chairpersons and members of the 12 standing committees.

Wearing the mayoral gown on special occasions, being addressed as ‘worshipful’ and getting special treatment and attention as the First Citizen form just one part of the powerful post.

Another, but more important, aspect is the financial discretionary power enjoyed by the mayor. The mayor is entitled to spend up to Rs 150 crore a year under the contingency plan, which includes flooding, repairing dilapidated buildings of the Palike and carrying out relief works during any natural calamity. The mayor can also release up to Rs eight crore a year under the Mayor Medical Grant, and an additional Rs five crore, with the consent of the BBMP council.

S K Nataraj, during his tenure as mayor, spent the most under the medical grant while B S Satyanarayana, another former mayor, spent the least, said sources in the BBMP. Earlier, the mayor could spend up to Rs 250 crore, which was reduced when Sharadamma was mayor and R Ashoka the Bengaluru in-charge minister.

Dy mayor, standing panels

The deputy mayor is second only to the mayor in terms of financial discretionary power. He or she can spend up to Rs 25 crore in the present system, besides representing the mayor in their absence. Indira, a former deputy mayor, had spent a substantial sum of her discretionary quota on her ward, Byatarayanapura.

Becoming the chairperson of a standing committee is no less lucrative.
A chairperson can sanction projects worth above Rs one crore but less than Rs three crore. There are, however, some standing committees which do open a “window of opportunities”. For example, the Town Planning Committee. In the BBMP head office, 480-500 building plans are sanctioned. Then in each zone, 1,000-1,400 building plans are sanctioned. All put together, about 10,000 building plans are sanctioned annually in Bengaluru and finding violations in these plans is no difficult.
There is so much money in the Town Planning section that engineers from other government departments crave for a posting there. This is the only section in the BBMP, to which once upon a time more engineers were deputed than the number of sanctioned posts.
Major works, ward-wise and health are some of the other lucrative standing committees, said a Palike officer.
DH News Service